Today,
we see the birth of the papacy, the beginning of the Office of the Pope. And,
it begins with a profession of faith after Jesus asks a few questions of the
disciples, questions whereby He hints at His divine nature, by using the term “Son
of Man,” a term that to Jewish ears would connote divinity, but probing further
to see who they think He really is.
And, the answer comes from a simple fisherman, Simon Peter, a man who takes the initiative, becoming the representative and answering for the group of the disciples. The answer he gives, however, is one that does not come from books or one that he could know on his own, it is only an answer that is given to him by the Father, for, as Jesus says: “flesh and blood has not revealed this.” What’s more, is that to emphasize this point, Jesus calls him Simon son of Jonah, a name many scholars and Fathers of the Church see as a reference to Jesus as the new Jonah, given His mission of saving humanity in the same way Jonah interceded on behalf of the Ninevites, making Peter a spiritual son, as it were.
Given this, Jesus then reiterates his name, but instead calls him something else entirely, stating: “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Peter is being given a new name, something that Biblically means he is being given a new mission, in the same way Abram became Abraham, or Saul became Paul after this conversion.
With this new name, he is also given new authority, which is why Jesus gives him the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Of course, this is a symbolic gesture the way it is today, when someone receives the keys to a city, but in Biblical days, cities were fortified with walls and gates which were guarded by lock and key, so the one who held the key, also wielded authority over that city.
Therefore, Peter is being given the great authority to, literally, bind or loose both in Heaven and on earth. In fact, this language was familiar in early Jewish literature and, as one commentator notes: “It signifies teaching authority and the ability to render binding decisions. Rabbis were said to make ‘binding’ interpretations of the Law…[and] It signals the forgiveness of sins…Peter is thus invested with Christ’s authority as the kingdom’s chief teacher and administrator; through him heaven governs the Church on earth.”
And, all of this started with a simple profession of faith that, in the words of St. Peter: “You are Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and with those words, he was made the first Pope, starting a long line that began there and still continues to this day in Rome.
If Jesus then awarded so much to St. Peter for saying those 10 words, how much more for us who have seen the extent that those words have gone, who have seen what it means to profess our faith in the same way?
In fact, if our answer is the same as St. Peter’s then it will have consequences, those same that we see happening on a daily basis throughout the world, the same that are happening no matter where we go. Because, to profess belief in Christ, to stand up for our faith in a time when we are being silenced means that what is being asked is more than a simple response to a loaded question, it is a response that has the very potential of costing even our own lives.
For us, it’s simple, we get in our cars, drive a few miles or more, and go to Mass, for other Christians, there’s no churches left, for them, the priests are scattered, if not all but gone, for them the end of Christianity in countless regions is almost inevitable.
And, while Jesus promises that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church, then that means, more than ever, we ourselves need to practice and embrace our faith as if we have never done so before. Our faith needs to become our lives, the way it did for those disciples, the way it did for St. Peter, who incidentally was crucified on a cross upside down because he felt himself unworthy to die in the same way as Christ.
More than ever, in this day and age, it has become dangerous to be or to even say we are Christian, because it is a challenge, it is struggle, more so than it has been in the recent past, but what we are is the result of over 2000 years of that same struggle, those who laid down their lives from the 2nd century to today, not because they had a death wish or something to prove, but because their faith was worth dying for.
That is why at every single Mass we should be thankful, not because we had to get out of bed, not because we fulfilled our obligation, but because we can still have Mass, we can still receive the Most Holy Eucharist, and we can still say that we are Christians without reproach.
Jesus asks a simple question in our Gospel: “Who do you say that I am,” it is a question that should haunt us, it is a question that should inspire us, it is a question that should motivate us, but, above all, it is a question that we should seek to answer each and every day, by our actions, by our words, by our prayer, and by our devotion. Because, what we are being asked is a question that affects the very essence of our lives, similar, in fact, to the other question Jesus posed to St. Peter: “Do you love me?”
And our answer, in the end, has to be more than just: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” it has be I believe, I trust and I love, with every part of my being, that what we say reflects who we are and what we do on a daily basis, that, indeed, we are Christians, that, indeed, we are Catholics, that, indeed, we believe.
And, the answer comes from a simple fisherman, Simon Peter, a man who takes the initiative, becoming the representative and answering for the group of the disciples. The answer he gives, however, is one that does not come from books or one that he could know on his own, it is only an answer that is given to him by the Father, for, as Jesus says: “flesh and blood has not revealed this.” What’s more, is that to emphasize this point, Jesus calls him Simon son of Jonah, a name many scholars and Fathers of the Church see as a reference to Jesus as the new Jonah, given His mission of saving humanity in the same way Jonah interceded on behalf of the Ninevites, making Peter a spiritual son, as it were.
Given this, Jesus then reiterates his name, but instead calls him something else entirely, stating: “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Peter is being given a new name, something that Biblically means he is being given a new mission, in the same way Abram became Abraham, or Saul became Paul after this conversion.
With this new name, he is also given new authority, which is why Jesus gives him the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Of course, this is a symbolic gesture the way it is today, when someone receives the keys to a city, but in Biblical days, cities were fortified with walls and gates which were guarded by lock and key, so the one who held the key, also wielded authority over that city.
Therefore, Peter is being given the great authority to, literally, bind or loose both in Heaven and on earth. In fact, this language was familiar in early Jewish literature and, as one commentator notes: “It signifies teaching authority and the ability to render binding decisions. Rabbis were said to make ‘binding’ interpretations of the Law…[and] It signals the forgiveness of sins…Peter is thus invested with Christ’s authority as the kingdom’s chief teacher and administrator; through him heaven governs the Church on earth.”
And, all of this started with a simple profession of faith that, in the words of St. Peter: “You are Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and with those words, he was made the first Pope, starting a long line that began there and still continues to this day in Rome.
If Jesus then awarded so much to St. Peter for saying those 10 words, how much more for us who have seen the extent that those words have gone, who have seen what it means to profess our faith in the same way?
In fact, if our answer is the same as St. Peter’s then it will have consequences, those same that we see happening on a daily basis throughout the world, the same that are happening no matter where we go. Because, to profess belief in Christ, to stand up for our faith in a time when we are being silenced means that what is being asked is more than a simple response to a loaded question, it is a response that has the very potential of costing even our own lives.
For us, it’s simple, we get in our cars, drive a few miles or more, and go to Mass, for other Christians, there’s no churches left, for them, the priests are scattered, if not all but gone, for them the end of Christianity in countless regions is almost inevitable.
And, while Jesus promises that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church, then that means, more than ever, we ourselves need to practice and embrace our faith as if we have never done so before. Our faith needs to become our lives, the way it did for those disciples, the way it did for St. Peter, who incidentally was crucified on a cross upside down because he felt himself unworthy to die in the same way as Christ.
More than ever, in this day and age, it has become dangerous to be or to even say we are Christian, because it is a challenge, it is struggle, more so than it has been in the recent past, but what we are is the result of over 2000 years of that same struggle, those who laid down their lives from the 2nd century to today, not because they had a death wish or something to prove, but because their faith was worth dying for.
That is why at every single Mass we should be thankful, not because we had to get out of bed, not because we fulfilled our obligation, but because we can still have Mass, we can still receive the Most Holy Eucharist, and we can still say that we are Christians without reproach.
Jesus asks a simple question in our Gospel: “Who do you say that I am,” it is a question that should haunt us, it is a question that should inspire us, it is a question that should motivate us, but, above all, it is a question that we should seek to answer each and every day, by our actions, by our words, by our prayer, and by our devotion. Because, what we are being asked is a question that affects the very essence of our lives, similar, in fact, to the other question Jesus posed to St. Peter: “Do you love me?”
And our answer, in the end, has to be more than just: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” it has be I believe, I trust and I love, with every part of my being, that what we say reflects who we are and what we do on a daily basis, that, indeed, we are Christians, that, indeed, we are Catholics, that, indeed, we believe.
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